Taylor-Joy is captivating as ever, she's able here to play a bit more grounded than her other 2022 offerings(Amsterdam, The Northman) and acts, in essence, as the audience surrogate. Unfamiliar and uninterested in haute cuisine, the only diner not of the 1%, and the only character we really care about her realism helps propel a lot of the peril and humor. Fiennes does one of the things he does best, mix threat with compassion, his performance kind of writhes with contradictions- pride, thwarted ambition, regret, principle- it's impressive as always. A good follow up to his 2021 underseen and underappreciated turn in The Dig. Holt is decent but whether in the performance or the script, the character fails to gain much traction especially opposite Taylor-Joy and Fiennes although in his final scene it really clicks. The supporting cast is impressive - John Leguizamo, Judith Light(Angela!), Janet McTeer(all diners), and Hong Chau(the maitre d’). None have particularly large parts but all function to elevate and deepen the film which, almost totally, takes place in one location.
The film has a realistic foodie-crispness, no surprise as a Chef's Table director was involved as well as various fine dining professionals, the score is relatively minimal but effective, the restaurant itself and the locations are all beautiful but also have an appropriately haunting kind of gothic isolation. The real triumph is the script, with great darkly comic moments sending up fine dining as well as the rich while at the same time making some pretty effective and direct commentary on class, the service industry, and economic exclusivity not to mention a couple moments of real violence. Tonally its an odd highwire act but never falters.
Laughs, gore, hope, and just desserts.
Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.
Don't Miss It.
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